THE LIFE OF 

GEORGE AUGUSTUS 



\ ISABEL SMITH GATES 

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THE LIFE OF 
GEORGE AUGUSTUS GATES 




GEORGE AUGUSTUS GATES 



The Life of 
George Augustus Gates 

by 

ISABEL SMITH GATES 




THE PILGRIM PRESS 
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 






Copyright 1915 
By Isabel Smith Gates 



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THE PILGRIM PRESS 
BOSTON 

©GIA40136-1 

JUiN I i lyl5 



FOEEWOED 

I SEND this little book out with fear and 
trembling lest it may seem an unworthy offer- 
ing. It is not a literary production, it is not 
a critical estimate of a man's worth to his 
fellow-creatures, nor to the institutions to which 
his life was related. It was not written for the 
public, nor with this larger world in thought, 
but because of inward compulsion and the joy 
found in the work, as well as with a desire to 
leave on record for my sons a summary of 
their father's life and something concerning 
the spirit in which his life was lived. Many 
of the inner circle who have read this sketch 
feel that because of its intimate touch it has 
special and peculiar value for that large num- 
ber of young men and women who have spent 
their happy college years under his adminis- 
tration. So, I take courage and send it forth 
to speak its own message in its own way. 

Isabel Smith Gates. 
Cambridge, Mass., 
April, 1915. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

Foreword .... 

George Augustus Gates 
I Boyhood and Youth . 
II Life at Grinnell College 

III A Year in the Pastorate . 

IV The Years at Pomona College 
V President of Fisk University 

VI The Last Chapter 



page 

V 

ix 
1 

11 
27 
33 
45 
55 



<}EORGE AUGUSTUS GATES 

A TKIBUTE 

My first meeting with President Gates oc- 
curred shortly after his acceptance of the pres- 
idency of Iowa College. I was leaving for my 
first year in Europe ; he had already spent some 
years there. In a few incisive and memorable 
words he gave me advice for which I am under 
lasting obligations. How often did I recall and 
act upon it when hesitation through diffidence 
or doubt would have meant failure to attain 
a much desired end. So I became, at the very 
beginning, acquainted with one of our Presi- 
dent's most characteristic traits, his clear- 
sighted, direct and ready helpfulness. 

Wlien I returned to the college a full year 
of the new administration had passed and I 
was struck by certain manifest changes. There 
was new order and decorum in chapel, an 
achievement which had long baffled the earnest 
efforts of an experienced faculty. **How has 
this been doneT' I asked, and the only answer 
I could get was, '* Gates did it." This was not 
sufficient for me. I wanted to know how Gates 
did it. No one could tell me ; and after serv- 
ing with him in most confidential relations for 
many years I am still unable to fully explain 

[ix] 



George Augustus Gates 

the President's influence over the students. No 
list of his virtues and his qualities, no verbatim 
report of his words, no detailed account of his 
acts, brings real understanding. ''Gates did 
if — and '4f was now one thing and now an- 
other quite diverse, — ^because he was Gates and 
through his inherent personality. First at 
Grinnell, then at Pomona and finally at Fisk 
upon an alien race that remarkable personality 
wrought its wise will. At Pomona and at 
Fisk it was an experienced administrator who 
worked beneficent changes ; but at Grinnell the 
man was young, untried, inexperienced in aca- 
demic affairs, and there, it seems, he did his 
greatest work. 

The relations of President Gates to his fac- 
ulty are well described in Mrs. Gates' faithful 
sketch. By relieving the teachers of harassing 
cares concerning discipline he enabled them to 
devote their energies to instruction and edu- 
cational organization. In matters academic his 
was emphatically a faculty administration. He 
had neither the training nor the disposition 
required for the mastery of the intricate details 
of educational systems; but he had a genius 
for finding the men to do that work, and to 
them he gave intelligent and effective support. 

By nature as well as by training Dr. Gates 
was a preacher. Out of his own profound 
religious experience he brought a message of 
reconciliation between the new science and the 
old religion. He was peculiarly adapted to aid 



George Augustus Gates 

in effecting the transition of the earlier type 
of Christian college to that of the educational 
institution open to all truth, and he became 
a conspicuous leader in the adjustment of the 
new education to the new social gospel. For 
twenty years before he came to Grinnell the 
doctrine of evolution had been sympathetically 
presented to the students of the college by 
members of the faculty; but this was largely 
intramural, the theory was not proclaimed from 
the housetops. Under President Gates evolu- 
tion became orthodox both in the college and 
among the younger ministers of the churches. 
Dr. Gates' utter, self -forgetting devotion to 
his high calling as preacher of righteousness 
and herald of the truth — all the truth that had 
been revealed to him — shows us the dominant 
note in his life and character. In the pursuit 
of this great endeavor he was absolutely fear- 
less and devoid of self-seeking. He once said 
to me that it never seemed to him right to 
receive a salary or to accept any kind of pay 
for what he was doing. His work was a priv- 
ilege. He rejoiced literally to pour out his 
life in the cause of righteousness. To his own 
heart he was debtor. He had received more 
than he could ever give and how boundless his 
obligation! How natural for a man of such 
rare and beautiful spirit to choose for himself 
the hard places in the service. How natural 
to stay in the hard places with little pay when 
easy positions with large salaries were open 

[xi] 



George Augustus Gates 

to his acceptance. How natural that the officers 
of the American Missionary Association know- 
ing the man should seek to secure his services 
for a negro college in the South. 

When finally, with health already damaged 
in the service of humanity, he went to Fisk, 
how completely he vindicated his fitness and 
power to deal with that toughest of human prob- 
lems, race prejudice. Those of us who knew 
Gates noted with inward satisfaction, but with- 
out surprise, the skill with which he led the 
Governor of his state and — greater triumph 
still! — the Governor's wife to an entire change 
of attitude towards our negro citizens. He 
seemed the man for the time and for the place, 
and our personal grief for his loss is mingled 
with sore disappointment and regret that he 
was not permitted to toil on in his eager, hearty, 
happy and gloriously successful way through- 
out the three score and ten years of man's 
natural earthly span. 

Jesse Macy. 

Grinnell College, 
Grinnell, Iowa. 



[xii] 



CHAPTER I 

BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 

Geoege Augustus Gates was born on Jan- 
uary 24th, 1851, at Topsham, a small New 
England village in the granite hills of northern 
Vermont. His boyhood was passed, however, 
in East St. Johnsbury where his parents went 
early in their married life. His mother knew 
no other home for thirty-five years. The house 
in which they lived was destroyed by fire about 
1908. I well remember it with its beautiful 
location, standing high in ^he angle made by 
the old St. Johnsbury road, which, as it went 
over the covered bridge, forked to east and 
west. There was a stone wall about the front 
yard over which honeysuckle and nasturtiums 
hung in fullness of bloom. Along either side 
of the walk to the front door were beds of old 
fashioned flowers. The house itself was yellow 
with white trimmings and green blinds, and 
stood four square to all the winds that blew. 
An old friend and neighbor has recently writ- 
ten of it as *Hhe stately home mansion of the 
Gates family. '^ With the exception of some 
slight details about the front door, it was a 
counterpart of the historic Longfellow House 
in Cambridge. It was here — only about one 

[1] 



George Augustus Gates 

hundred yards from the Moose River — that the 
boy George passed his boyhood. For some ten 
years he lived the life of the normal boy — 
fishing, swimming, hunting woodchucks and 
making life yield its delights as no one but a 
boy can. Then a shadow fell across his life in 
the sudden death of the father, — Hubbard 
Gates. He was a miller and it was while his 
mill was being repaired that he was instantly 
killed by a falling timber. This left the widow 
with three children, George, Estelle, and little 
Zora. Mrs. Gates was a young woman of 
strong, forceful character. As a girl she had 
been given all the education which was in reach 
of the average girl at that time, and had even 
gone for a short time to Newbury Seminary — 
afterward, Montpelier Seminary — which was a 
rare privilege. Most fathers thought a com- 
mon district school education quite sufficient 
for their girls. Mrs. Gates' father knew she 
was both an able scholar and teacher for she 
was always eagerly sought in the district 
schools, and for seven years taught success- 
fully large classes and often big boys, twice 
her size, if not twice her age. Her father had 
been a miller in good circumstances and the 
home possessed the comforts then available. 
When left with no income and three young 
children she still had her home. Her husband's 
parents occupied a wing of it, but their re- 
sources were not adequate to the growing 
demands of four more. Her neighbors said 

[2] 



Boyhood and Youth 

'*she could never earn a living for herself and 
care for those young children," but, nothing 
daunted, she set her face to the task. That 
she succeeded far beyond her expectations was 
her reward. She opened one of her sunny east 
rooms for millinery and dressmaking, and as 
the work grew from year to year, she had six 
or more girls working under her direction. 

George, as the oldest child, was very helpful, 
taking care of the home, working wherever he 
could to add his boy's mite to the treasury, and 
often, in the evening, running long seams on 
the sewing machine to help his mother. That 
he did not neglect his school work these words 
recently written by one of the townspeople will 
bear witness. **He was the most brilliant 
scholar we ever had in our East Village schools ; 
it was just as natural for him to acquire knowl- 
edge readily from books as it was for our song- 
birds to sing. He never sowed any *wild oats' 
but was always * a credit to his bringing up. ' ' ' 
One summer, when about thirteen, he went to 
work for a farmer, which experience was never 
forgotten. The farmer forgot that he was a 
boy, a growing boy, not over strong, and he 
worked him like a man. The food was monot- 
onous and not overabundant, the hours long 
and the work heavy for growing muscles. The 
boy never complained, and only once in that 
long summer of unremitting toil did he ever 
lose courage. Having been allowed to go home 
over Sunday, he dreaded so much going back 

[ 3 ] . 



George Augustus Gates 

that lie wept upon his mother's shoulders. 
Years later, when sometimes asked if he would 
like to be a farmer, he would reply with per- 
haps surprising emphasis, *^No, I never want 
to see a farm implement/' The iron had en- 
tered his soul and years could not efface the 
recollection. 

Later, in the fall of 1865, he attended St. 
Johnsbury Academy, going down the four 
miles on Monday morning and returning Fri- 
day night. His mother supplied him with his 
food for the week. He was always a fine 
scholar, taking rank among the first, if not 
leading his class. After graduating with honor 
the question came, **What next? Work or 
more education?" Mrs. Gates said ^^More 
education." The neighbors sniffed and even 
said ironically, ^^You seem to think your boy 
a little smarter than ours, that you send him 
to college." Few boys in that town had so 
much as dreamt of college, why should her boy 
desire to go? In spite of all the discourage- 
ments, the mother kept counsel with her own 
heart and her boy's ambitions, and to Dart- 
mouth College he went in the fall of 1869. 
Dartmouth College in '69 was not the college 
of today. Rooms were heated with stoves; 
cared for by the individual student ; there was 
no bath, public or private; the old pump on 
the College Common furnished cool water in 
summer and ice water in winter, and surely 
to be clean then was to be akin to godliness. 

[4] 




ROSETTA GATES STARK 

THE MOTHER OF PRESIDENT GATES AT EIGHTY-SEVEN 



Boyhood and Youth 

Nevertheless, high thinking and fine fellowship 
were as common then as now. It was the cus- 
tom at that time for many boys to earn part 
or all of their expenses by staying out during 
the winter term to teach, and in summer by 
finding profitable employment on farms or 
among the hotels of the White Mountain re- 
sorts. Work for this one term was arranged 
with this great falling off in view. Now-a-days 
the loss from this dropping out is deemed so 
unwise that every effort is made to obtain work 
for students in the college town, so keeping 
hold upon and uniting the student body. Dur- 
ing those four years he joined the Delta Kappa 
Epsilon Society; in his Junior year he won a 
place which was assigned by rank on the Junior 
Exhibition program, and on Commencement 
Day, in June, 1873, he gave an oration when 
receiving his B. A. From 73 to 75 he was 
Principal of the Vermont Morrisville Academy 
and Graded Schools, where he proved himself 
an able administrator and an especially inspir- 
ing teacher, and won friendships which lasted 
to the time of his death. 

In the fall of 1875 he entered Andover The- 
ological Seminary, remaining two years. Fol- 
lowing that he was tutor in a prominent Bos- 
ton family for two years. These years were 
fruitful in spiritual growth and they added to 
his fine mental equipment a refinement and cul- 
ture of manner and spirit which means much 
to a youth who has been a part of an educa- 

[5] 



George Augustus Gates 

tional institutional life for many years. The 
quiet strength of the head of this household, 
the rarely fine spiritual vision and mental ac- 
tivity of the wife and mother, and the constant 
contact with men and women — the choice spirits 
of Boston — made this home of unusual charm 
and inspirational power. With them he went 
abroad for a year of travel and remained for 
a year of study after their return. 

He was able to sit under some of the ablest 
of theologians and philosophers, as Godet at 
Neuchatel, Christlieb at Bonn, and Lotze at 
Gottingen. It was often his great privilege to 
be invited by Lotze to accompany him on some 
of his long walks. We can imagine what these 
walks held for him. It was during this period 
of study and travel that he met and solved the 
fundamental questions of life. Because this 
conquest was fraught with temporary darkness 
and great agony of spirit he was later able in 
a peculiar measure to help young men to see 
the light and to find ^^the Way, the Truth 
and the Life.'' Out of fourteen men and 
women who represent Pomona College now on 
the foreign field twelve went out under his 
leadership. 

Upon returning to America full of enthusi- 
asm, having found, as he believed out of his 
own experiences, a sure foundation for an intel- 
ligent, consistent faith and loyalty to the Lord 
Jesus Christ, he finished his work at Andover 
and graduated in June, 1880. Then came one 

[6] 



Boyhood and Youth 

of the most unexpectedly trjdng experiences of 
his life. He had been taught in Germany to 
seek for the Truth fearlessly, as that was the 
meaning of Life, and to hold fast that which 
was good. He was called in August, 1880, 
to become the pastor of the Congregational 
Church of Littleton, New Hampshire. The 
Ecclesiastical Council, which was headed by 
Dartmouth's President, Dr. S. C. Bartlett, 
refused him ordination because of ** doctrinal 
unsoundness.*' Dr. Gates had found **the 
Christianity of Jesus Christ was summed up 
in love; its theology, God is love; its law, 
the law of love; its ritual, the spontaneous 
expression of love to God; its Church organ- 
ization, cooperation in the service of others, 
inspired by love." But this was not enough. 
His statement of formal belief was frank and 
fearless. He did not know dogmatically of 
certain great mysteries. To him the revelation 
of truth was progressive, growing ever more 
and more. To the young man before them 
spiritual conviction, belief in the unseen as 
the real, a working gospel which was a foun- 
tain of living water for quenching the thirst 
of men, were things he knew he had. However, 
Dr. Bartlett and others of the council were 
asking that he follow the old paths in the the- 
ological woods, forgetting that ^* paths are not 
dwelling places, but cleared roads for advanc- 
ing feet." So the verdict remained *^he had 
no gospel to preach. " It is interesting to notice 

[7] 



George Augustus Gates 

in this connection * dime's revenges/' This 
same doughty knight of theological truth, Dr. 
Bartlett, wrote Mr. Gates some ten years later 
(as President of Dartmouth College) announc- 
ing the bestowal of the degree of Doctor of 
Divinity upon him at that commencement sea- 
son, and spoke of his pleasure at being chosen 
to convey the message. As if this was not 
enough, in 1892 he again wrote, expressing the 
pleasure it would give him to have Dr. Gates 
for his successor in office as President of Dart- 
mouth College, should he find himself able to 
favorably consider the matter. Those two in- 
cidents healed forever the tender spot in his 
heart caused by that crushing blow at the begin- 
ning of his ministerial career. Among Dr. 
Gates ' letters I find one, written evidently about 
the time of this second letter of Dr. Bartlett 's, 
in which the writer (a minister) says, ^^May 
I be allowed to congratulate you on the honor 
you have received from the Trustees of Dart- 
mouth College. It must have been especially 
gratifying as coming from an institution whose 
recent head once sat upon an ordaining coun- 
cil, — zealous for God to be sure but ^ not accord- 
ing to knowledge.' " In this connection may 
be mentioned an interesting episode in the life 
of John Fiske, which I found published recently 
in one of our magazines. While an under- 
graduate in Harvard Mr. Fiske was summoned 
before the faculty under the double charge of 
having been found reading a book in church 

[8] 



Boyhood and Youth 

instead of listening to the sermon, and the 
** accumulated evidences of his conversion to 
Darwinism/' He was let off, however, with 
an admonition and a threat of ''summary ex- 
pulsion if he did not in the future refrain from 
airing his too-advanced views. ' ' Less than ten 
years later he was called back to Harvard, to 
expound under its auspices that for which he 
had almost suffered expulsion. ''Short range 
condemnation and a long range vindication" 
is not unusual in history. 

In 1880, within a short time after his ordi- 
nation in Littleton was refused. Dr. Gates went 
to Upper Montclair, New Jersey, to preach to 
a congregation of people of different denomi- 
nations. They had built a fine edifice, but 
because of technicalities possession was denied 
them. The result was a generous giving up 
of all that the building had meant to them 
in labor, hope and sacrifice. At such a time, 
under such trying circumstances, was the young 
man called to bring honey from the lion's 
loins and to re-create the spirit of Christian 
unity. He accepted gladly the hard task which 
would occupy his mind and keep his own spirit 
sweet. A council was called with Dr. Lyman 
Abbott as moderator and he was ordained and 
installed as pastor. Within three years his sal- 
ary of $600 was raised to $1,500 and later to 
$2,000. He married in 1882 Isabel Augustus 
Smith of Syracuse, N. Y., and two of his three 
children were born while in this parish. That 

[9] 



George Augustus Gates 

his work was blessed, the record shows. This 
church of forty-two members held at that time 
the unique position of giving to missions the 
largest amount proportionally of any Congre- 
gational Church then in the United States. 



[16] 



CHAPTER II 
LIFE AT GEINNELL COLLEGE 

In the fall of 1887, after seven years of 
service with the Upper Montclair church, Mr. 
Gates accepted a call to Iowa College, at Grin- 
nell, Iowa. In connection with this event a 
quotation from one of his letters to the Pres- 
ident of the Board may be of interest: *^In 
addition to what I have previously written, I 
desire to say this, in order to avoid any mis- 
understanding on the part of anyone. What 
I have said, or now say, must not be understood 
as a pledge to any policy, nor must it be looked 
upon as a promise to say or do anything, or 
to refrain from doing or saying anything. I 
desire that it shall be understood between the 
Trustees and myself that if I come, I come, 
to quote the words of one of their own number, 
*as a free man in Jesus Christ.' I desire to 
state to the Trustees that in case I come it will 
be my purpose to keep my work and my office 
free from partisan theological complications. 
I refer to questions now disturbing our denom- 
ination. Any other course would seem to me 
injurious to the best interests of all concerned. '* 

This Congregational college was born of the 
spirit of that Iowa Band of young men who so 

[11] 



George Augustus Gates 

splendidly ventured forth from their homes in 
the far East, leaving financial success behind 
them, to enter into the great unknown West 
and build churches and start colleges. Let us 
never forget what this country owes education- 
ally to the Congregational Church. Like the 
heroic Methodist circuit riders, these Congre- 
gational preachers also went forth to conquer 
into the then far "West, the Bible in one hand 
and the school-book in the other. 

To this college at Grinnell, from 1887 to 
1900, Dr. Gates gave thirteen of his best years, 
equally successful as an administrator and an 
inspiring constructive educator. The funds of 
the college grew rapidly under his hand. A 
new chair was created, unlike anything then 
in existence in the colleges. It was called 
'^The Chair of Applied Christianity.'' Its 
purpose was to promote the study of social 
conditions and the search for methods of 
Christ-like application to them. The first to 
occupy this chair was Dr. George D. Herron 
and later it was filled by Dr. Edward Steiner, 
of international reputation. 

Dr. Gates established the *^ Friday morning 
Chapel," when the President should speak 
directly to his student body. For years his 
printed *^ Chapel Talks" were in constant de- 
mand, and their variety, originality and virility 
still make them of interest. He, too, continued 
on a broad scale the custom which has since 
been widely adopted as a source of inspiration 

[12] 



Life at Grinnell College 

and broadening of view-point; namely, the in- 
viting of prominent men to speak on the college 
platform. He had great faith in the *^ con- 
tagion of greatness and fine enthusiasms.'' 

Wliile at Grinnell Dr. Gates received many 
honors. He was asked to be President of two 
large state universities, promising large finan- 
cial inducements for the work and for himself 
personally; two colleges in the East followed 
suit, and the refusal to one of them cost him 
so much that it was hard for him in later years 
to speak of it. His reason for declining was 
the same to all. The need was so great where 
he was, and the unsettling of the college if left 
would be so serious a matter that he must not 
think of himself. It was characteristic of his 
whole life. He was given the degree of LL. D. 
from Nebraska University in 1893 and the 
degree of D. D. from Dartmouth College in 
1892. He appreciated these overtures and 
honors and used them as spurs to larger en- 
deavor. I might speak of the value of his 
work educationally to the state. He traveled its 
length and breadth again and again, preaching 
and inspiring young men to seek for the best. 
He strove to open the eyes of older men to 
new forms of truth, as well as to have the 
obedient spirit and the listening ear. In Grin- 
nell he stood for clean athletics, when such a 
stand was somewhat unpopular; he made an 
** honor system'' into an honor habit and a 
permanent basis for good faith between stu- 

[13] 



Geor^ge Augustus Gates 

dents and Faculty. He broadened the curric- 
ulum and introduced the group system; he 
dignified the chapel service, and his unique 
chapel talks were something many of the 
*Hown" as well as of the *^gown'' did not like 
to miss. He gave more adequate expression to 
the ^^Grinnell spirit.'' He embodied afresh 
that spirit which had been so potent from the 
beginning of the college. To his Faculty he 
was not only the dignified officer, but one who 
could use ^^parliamentary principles without 
permitting action to be hindered by parlia- 
mentary rules; his humor lightened dreary 
discussion, his enthusiasm gave interest to 
details, and one lost the sense of pettiness of 
work in the feeling of its greatness. ' ' 

The Faculty grew from seventeen to thirty- 
five. The scholastic standing was constantly 
raised, so that when he left it stood among the 
highest of the Western colleges as to quality 
of work. In 1910, he returned to Grinnell to 
give the Commencement address. Referring 
to that happy time, he writes : **It was a special 
joy to me to be at Grinnell Commencement. 
Nearly nine-tenths of the alumni body which 
gathered at that time were *my' graduates. If 
Peter hesitates about admitting me, I am per- 
fectly ready to refer the case to those Grinnell 
alumni. ' ' 

Perhaps a word ought to be said here as to 
Dr. George D. Herron and his work. He came 
to Iowa College to occupy the new Chair of 

[14] 



Life at Grinnell College 

Applied Christianity, presented by Mrs. Rand 
of Burlington, under new conditions and in 
response to the growing social consciousness of 
men that human brotherhood might be pos- 
sible. He hoped to bring to this chair fresh 
interpretations of brotherhood, in the light of 
the pressing social and industrial interests of 
the day. He came at the invitation of the 
Trustees, and with the cordial cooperation of 
the President and Faculty. That he then had 
a great gospel of social righteousness to preach, 
few would question. Dr. Gates gave him his 
cordial, sincere cooperation, his personal affec- 
tion and the freedom of his Chair as long as 
he could conscientiously do so. There came a 
time however when he could no longer agree 
with many of Dr. Herron's doctrines, nor 
endorse all his teaching. Neither was the col- 
lege ready or willing to be held responsible for 
many of his growing radical views. So grad- 
ually the breach widened, and other elements 
of danger entering in, through personal rela- 
tions, made it best for Dr. Herron to resign. 
This came about some six months after Dr. and 
Mrs. Gates had gone to Colorado seeking the 
recovery of health for Mrs. Gates. 

Perhaps Dr. Gates' splendid belief in the 
goodness of men, his rare loyalty to friendship 
when once given, his unquenchable faith in the 
value and greatness of the truth which he be- 
lieved Dr. Herron 's message embodied, with 
his desire to see that truth launched upon a 

[ 15 ] 



George Augustus Gates 

world as ever reluctant, gave him a patience 
and charity during this period beyond that of 
most men. It was a peculiarly delicate and 
difficult administrative situation. Beside the 
vital truth wrapped up in Dr. Herron's mes- 
sage, there was varied and fine service rendered 
by those standing behind Dr. Herron, and there 
were obligations for generous gifts and for the 
creation and endowment of the very chair Dr. 
Herron occupied. It was perhaps all these ele- 
ments which entering in made Dr. Gates less 
able to understand as fully or quickly what may 
have seemed very clear to a disinterested on- 
looker. Then too. Dr. Gates never allowed 
himself to judge any man without an adequate 
ground for that judgment. This very quality 
endeared him to his student body, for they 
knew that at his hand they would receive jus- 
tice. It also made any sentence of his more 
effective and impressive. From a student who 
had to leave college because of flagrant wrong- 
doing, came this testimony many years later: 
*^I want to thank you now for the discipline I 
received at your hands. The justice and sever- 
ity, coupled with your belief that I could and 
would retrieve myself, has been my satisfaction 
and incentive. I want you to know that I have 
achieved honorable citizenship and am a happy 
husband and father.'' This genius for loyalty, 
for a wonderful faith in the deep-down good- 
ness of men, was Dr. Gates ' contribution to his 
world. Like all great virtues it sometimes 

[16] 



Life at Grinnell College 

leaned to the side of weakness, and so may 
have at times affected adversely his adminis- 
trative ability. At any rate, of this we are sure, 
*^Time justifies a calm judgment and an unfal- 
tering faith in the leading of Providence. ' ' The 
Chair of Applied Christianity in Grinnell Col- 
lege has been occupied since Dr. Herron's res- 
ignation by Dr. Edward A. Steiner, widely 
known all over this country. Under him many 
young men have been stimulated to interest 
in and work for social betterment. Through 
the generosity of the college. Dr. Steiner has 
been able to give himself to a national work 
for a new and better appreciation of our so- 
called alien races. 

In a recent number of *^The Congregation- 
alist,'' in the telling of his life story. Dr. Steiner 
bears unconscious witness to the value of those 
truths which Dr. Herron announced and for 
whose promulgation Dr. Gates and the college 
gave themselves. These are his words: **A 
number of causes have contributed to the meas- 
ure of success which I have attained in my 
department. The radicalism of my predeces- 
sor had by the time I began my work become 
more or less the accepted doctrine of the 
churches. At least no one was startled by the 
word social as related to the teaching of Jesus. 
The seed sown by the pioneers had germinated 
well, and many churches were permeated by 
the social spirit of the gospel. I began teach- 
ing the glorious Christian doctrine of Brother- 

[17] 



George Augustus Gates 

hood, my one aim being to send my students 
out rightly related to their God, their fellow- 
men, and their duty. ... I teach one religious 
doctrine with a scientific dogmatism and one 
scientific doctrine with a religious zeal ; namely, 
that underneath all the differences between 
races and classes humanity is essentially one/^ 

Surely one of these ^* pioneers'^ as a sower 
of a social gospel was Dr. Gates, and Dr. Her- 
ron's reiterated message, the one clear note 
through all the din of other sounds and the 
one for which Dr. Gates gave himself with 
passionate earnestness, was that ^* underneath 
all the differences between races and classes 
humanity is essentially one.'' Shall not Iowa 
College at Grinnell be proud that she stood long 
and even suffered that from her watch-tower 
might ring out to the churches and to the civic 
conscience of men one of the first strong mes- 
sages of social regeneration through the reality 
and practicality of the Brotherhood of Man? 

In speaking of the Chair of Applied Chris- 
tianity and its first occupant I must add a word 
in regard to a religious weekly called *^The 
Kingdom,'' published for several years at 
Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the enlarged 
** Northwestern Congregationalist " under new 
leadership. This paper was closely related to 
the work done at Grinnell in that it was made 
possible by the spirit engendered there and by 
the men who came to the ** retreat" held there 
for several successive summers. The paper 

[18] 



Life at Grinnell College 

was principally concerned with things pertain- 
ing to the coming of the Kingdom of Christ 
here and now, — hence its name, *^The King- 
dom.'' Its aim was to persuade men to **seek 
first the Kingdom of God and His righteous- 
ness." It dealt largely with those great ques- 
tions which touch the social relations of men 
and vitally affect the establishing of the King- 
dom of Heaven on earth. Its managing editor 
and publisher was Eev. Herbert W. Gleason, 
whose personal sacrifices, financial and other- 
wise, in the conduct of the paper can only be 
appreciated by those who worked with him at 
the time. The board of associate editors was 
headed by Dr. Gates and included such men as 
Prof. John Bascom, Dr. Josiah Strong, Prof. 
Jesse Macy, Dr. Thomas C. Hall, Eev. Geo. D. 
Black, Prof. John R. Commons, Dr. Washing- 
ton Gladden and Mr. Robert A. Woods, while 
the list of contributors contained the names of 
many prominent leaders in the religious and 
social thought of the country. All gave freely 
of their services without compensation, and 
seldom if ever has a paper of its kind received 
such notable and generous support *^ without 
money and without price. ' ' It did a great work 
in stimulating the growth of social conscious- 
ness through the application of the teachings 
of Jesus Christ to social conditions. The pub- 
lication of this weekly was at a time too, when 
the idea of service as applied to business rela- 
tions was exceedingly new. In the awakening 

[19] 



George Augustus Gates 

of such miglity forces, it is not strange that 
they should have at times gone to extremes, but 
because they were mighty and righteous, they 
ultimately must be stronger than the powers 
they stood against. Today this now tremen- 
dously awakened conscience is dealing sternly, 
not only with wrong committed, but with the 
persons whose methods tend to such wrong. 
All our public service commissions today are 
only another expression of this same awakened 
conscience. 

There is however, no great social movement 
but carries with it much that is not essential 
to its usefulness, nor necessarily a part of its 
value. Such was the fact in connection with 
the new spirit of social consciousness which was 
embodied in Dr. Herron's message. That it 
was imperiled later by the individual does not 
permanently detract from its value. He em- 
phasized this gospel of social responsibility 
at a time when the churches had not yet greatly 
realized or preached it, and when the people's 
vision was darkened. All that was precious 
and vital in it has come now, in our day, with 
such force and power that it is hard to realize 
the apathy and even antagonism to it existent 
at that time. A prominent minister and teacher 
of men wrote three years later that it was his 
deliberate opinion 'Hhat the little paper, while 
it lasted, struck the highest and truest note of 
any publication in America, before or since.'' 

There was one experience in Dr. Gates' aca- 

[20] 



Life at Grinnell College 

demic life that deserves special note in this 
connection because of its peculiar interest and 
value to all lovers of honorable methods which 
concern our public schools. In the year 1896 
Dr. Gates read before the College Section of 
the Southeastern Iowa Teachers* Association, 
a little pamphlet of some forty-seven pages. 
Its object was *Ho acquaint the public with 
certain notorious facts relating to the unscru- 
pulous methods of a well known school-book 
monopoly in introducing its text books into the 
public school.** This paper created so strong 
a sentiment as to its courage, timeliness and 
value, that it was endorsed by the Association 
as a body and recommended for publication. 
However, it lay for a year on Dr. Gates* desk 
before it was sent to *^The Kingdom Publishing 
Co.,** of Minneapolis, Minnesota, by whom it 
was published under the title of **A Foe to 
American Schools.** In the writing of this 
pamphlet Dr. Gates had but accepted the 
American Book Company *s own challenge, pub- 
licly stated in circulars sent out by them to 
their patrons. These are their words: **We 
ask our patrons and correspondents to look 
around them and view the business transac- 
tions of this company and its agents. We invite 
such a test. * * The first edition of two thousand 
copies was at once exhausted and a second was 
called for. These were just ready for circu- 
lation when the American Book Company 
sought to secure an injunction against the pub- 

[21] 



George Augustus Gates 

lishers, cliargmg the book with being ^^false, 
scandalous and libelous" and asking for an 
order of court to restrain the further publica- 
tion and circulation of the book. After a hear- 
ing in court this petition for an injunction was 
dismissed. Then followed a suit against Dr. 
Gates personally, as the author, and another 
against the publishers, each alleging libel and 
conspiracy with rival publishers and each claim- 
ing one hundred thousand dollars damages. 
Meanwhile the little pamphlet went far and 
wide, uttering its warning to American educa- 
tors. In January, 1898, in the suit against the 
Kingdom Publishing Company, the judge who 
presided practically took the case out of the 
hands of the jury and ordered a verdict for the 
plaintiff on a purely legal technicality, — an 
important witness not being able to reach the 
court-room in time to have his evidence in- 
cluded. One of the jurymen, after the trial 
was over, stated that in their deliberations the 
evidence given in the case was not considered 
at all ; in view of the judge 's positive instruc- 
tions they felt bound to render a verdict for 
the company. This was made for seventy-five 
hundred dollars instead of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. 

With regard to the suit against Dr. Gates 
personally, the Des Moines Leader of March 
4, 1898, made the following comment: 

"The American Book Company received a 
knockout blow yesterday at the hands of Judge 

[22] 



Life at Grinnell College 

Woolson of the United States Circuit Court 
in its libel damage ease against President Gates 
of Iowa College. Fourteen of the fifteen counts 
in its petition for one hundred thousand dollar 
damages were stricken out. The fifteenth which 
stands is of such little importance as compared 
to the others, that the finding practically car- 
ried the book company out of court. . . . The 
rulings of the court give the plaintiff a case, 
such as it is, but the effect is, to intents and 
purposes, a sweeping victory for Gates. It 
leaves but seventeen lines of a pamphlet con- 
taining forty-seven pages on which to build 
a case. . . . The case will never be submitted 
to a court on the question of facts involved in 
the seventeen lines of the pamphlet in which 
it is held there may be libel. ' ' 

Dr. Gates was quite indifferent as to what 
the verdict of the courts might be, **for no 
verdict could change the conditions to which 
the pamphlet called attention.'' He felt the 
case was only nominally his **for it is really 
the case of the American schools and the Amer- 
ican people. A corporation should not be un- 
justly attacked any more than an individual" 
and for that reason he wished this company 
to have every opportunity for a clear vindi- 
cation, but any vindication which should be 
merely technical, namely a judgment for them 
when no adequate defense was made, would 
not be clear vindication. Henry D. Loyd of 
Chicago said of this suit, *Hhe issue they have 

[23] 



George Augustus Gates 

raised regarding American schools and school 
children is one of the most momentous that 
can be presented to the American people/' 
Dr. Gates never regretted his part in helping 
to arrest in this case, and to make less possible 
in the future, notorious abuses in any * ' school- 
book trust.'* All the statements made con- 
cerning this suit can be verified from Volume 
X, 1897-1898, of **The Kingdom.'' 

About 1900 the very serious illness of Dr. 
Gates ' wife from persistent asthma, from which 
she had suffered from her first coming to Iowa, 
made it absolutely imperative to remove to the 
high mountain regions of the farther West. 
The decision was made seemingly in haste, but 
it had been a growing conviction for several 
years, only the extreme hour of need brought 
the decision to a climax in twenty-four hours 
after a consultation of physicians. All that 
they both had hoped might be their life-work 
was given up, and Mrs. Gates was taken to 
Colorado under orders ** never to return to 
live" in that home which was so endeared to 
them both. Her rapid gain and final restora- 
tion to health justified this action. Meantime 
Dr. Gates returned to Grinnell to adjust the 
college to the change in leadership, as at this 
time the trustees felt they could not let him 
go. He was asked to remain and complete that 
college year from January to June, and, after 
a summer in Colorado with his family, to re- 
turn to open the new college year in September. 

[24] 



Life at Grinnell College 

This he did, although it meant much to his 
family to have him so far away for nearly a 
year. In December, 1900, having seen the col- 
lege prepared for a new administrator, he left 
for Colorado. A quotation from one of the 
countless letters received at this time, relative 
to his going to the far West, may prove inter- 
esting. It is written by a man who had a large 
family of children all of whom were at one 
time or another in college under Dr. Gates. 

**We all, belonging to this house, are simply 
inconsolable at the action you have taken. To 
us the shadow on the dial seems going back- 
ward. It takes all the heart out of Iowa Col- 
lege so far as I am concerned. . . . But I did 
not start to say such things as these, but to 
tell you how grateful I am that it has been 
given to all of my children to have been under 
your teaching for the past ten years, and to 
thank you for the inspiration and uplift you 
have given to them and to so many of the young 
people of Iowa. Whatever may become of 
Iowa College in the future, the years of its 
more recent past will live in those you have 
led into larger conceptions of life and duty.'* 

There was one incident in connection with 
Dr. Gates' departure from Iowa College that 
was so significant and unique, that I want to 
speak of it here. Just the day before leaving 
he was asked to attend a Faculty meeting. 
He was somewhat surprised, as his official 
meetings with that body were over. On enter- 

[25] 



George Augustus Gates - 

ing the room lie found a chairman in his ac- 
customed place, which for an instant gave him 
a queer feeling. In a few moments, however, 
it was all made clear to him when Professor 
Main, now President of the college, arose and 
said that, as all formal Faculty meetings were 
over, the body felt they would like to gather 
once again with their departing leader. A 
beautiful silver and gold loving cup was then 
brought in, filled with wine. Professor Main 
took it in his hands and addressed Dr. Gates 
with words most beautiful and touching. He 
referred to the occasion as **a sacrament of 
love, friendship and fellowship that time could 
not destroy," and said: **The cup has three 
handles : one was for the Faculty, one for our 
President, and one for Mrs. Gates." Some 
eight or ten others followed him in speeches 
fresh from their hearts, '* tender and sweet," 
and then the cup was passed from one to the 
other, each drilling in silence. By the time 
it had reached Dr. Gates it was almost impos- 
sible for him to speak words which could con- 
vey what he felt. One of the Faculty who had 
been a life-long member of the Church said a 
year later, that for the first time he hnew what 
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper meant. 
You may be sure that loving cup is a precious 
legacy to his wife and sons. 



[26] 



CHAPTER III 
A YEAR IN THE PASTORATE 

In order to give Mrs. Gates the fullest oppor- 
tunity to regain complete health, and to allow 
himself time to be adjusted to a new situation, 
he accepted, within a month (in December, 
1901), an invitation to the First Congregational 
Church of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Here he spent 
about one year. Nowhere did his somewhat 
rare originality of mind show more conspicu- 
ously. Sermons preached then are still living 
in the hearts of many people as a unique and 
impressive revelation of some new and won- 
derful aspect of the mind and heart of the 
Father in His relation to His children. Thir- 
teen years of contact with impressionable youth 
made him less patient with the slowness of 
heart and indifference of men to the Spirit of 
God as found in organized church life. He 
longed to lay his hand on clay that could be 
moulded while yet plastic rather than to melt 
or break the hardened material. To be with- 
out social vision was to him to be almost blind. 
So he looked forward to a return to college 
work somewhere in the West. 

In connection with his short stay in Chey- 
enne one event ought to be related, as it has 

[27] 



George Augustus Gates 

to do with state and national political history. 
The record is largely taken from Dr. Gates* 
printed story of it. In 1900 Wyoming was the 
one state of the Union that formally licensed 
gambling and actually issued gamblers' li- 
censes. These were held, practically without 
exception, by saloon-keepers. At an informal 
meeting of four of the pastors of the city this 
fact came out in the conversation and it was 
proposed that as the Legislature was then in 
session it would be just the right time to abol- 
ish that dishonor. At first the suggestion was 
received with smiles but gradually the serious- 
ness of the proposed question dominated the 
meeting. Of course the proposer was George 
A. Gates. It was decided to invite the coop- 
eration of the other ministers, but all declined. 
That convinced the original four. Baptist, Con- 
gregational, Presbyterian and Methodist, that 
they must do it and **do it now." A young 
lawyer drew the bill and a sturdy Scotch sena- 
tor presented it. Not desiring to be too bold 
a local-option bill was drawn up. A vote was 
taken in the Senate and the bill was turned 
down with scorn and laughter. In the Senate 
chamber only the four ministers from outside 
were present at the voting. But that Senate, 
as have some other Senates, met its Waterloo. 
The Methodist pastor had Irish blood in his 
veins, the Baptist inherited a square jaw, the 
Presbyterian was a Scotch man, and the Con- 
gregationalist had Vermont granite in his 

[28] 



A Year in the Pastorate 

makeup. Result — the local-option bill was 
changed into a state prohibition gambling law 
— and the war was on. One city paper stood 
for reform; the other, controlled by a United 
States senator, at first strongly opposed it but 
later, when it became popular, nearly ruined the 
cause by its approval. Mass meetings were 
held in the churches, the voting women gave 
their united help, but no prominent citizen 
would speak or preside save one, — a fine old 
ex- Senator. All honor to him. When the 
women swung solidly into the cause with their 
power, plus personal influence, the gamblers 
recognized the danger and rallied their friends 
fiercely to their standard. Their cohorts, from 
hundreds of miles, gathered at the Capitol and 
delays, amendments and tricky devices were 
used openly and shamelessly. 

At last came the day for the Senate's vote. 
The women were there — fine strong women 
who as lovers of Home and Right were ready 
to fight if need be for their children's right 
to a fair chance. The saloon-keepers' *^ con- 
stituents" were also there and needed no label 
to tell whence they came, or why they were 
there. It took courage, great courage, to stand 
for that bill, for every man knew that it meant 
his political doom if he voted for it, for his 
** constituency" was threateningly watching. 
The plan was to kill the bill in the House and 
here dilatory tactics almost won, for the House 
vote was forced only on the last morning of 

[29] 



George Augustus Gates 

the day on wMch the session expired by limi- 
tation. The ministers realized the danger and 
met for last desperate action. From that meet- 
ing they went out to interview the Governor, 
the Attorney-General, the Secretary of State 
and several other leading politicians. From 
them came the weak promise, **We will try 
to pass the bill but may fail.'' This was not 
enough and the four ministers thus declared 
themselves : 

*^ There are sixty members of this Legisla- 
ture, fifty-seven of whom are Republicans. 
Now the party thus in power either can and 
will not, or wills to and cannot carry a desired 
measure. Accept either horn of that dilemma 
you choose. We four men are also Eepublicans. 
But we promise you that if our party in this 
State is so allied with a vice like gambling, 
and is so weak, that with fifty-seven out of 
sixty votes it cannot pass this bill, then we 
four men will take care of our pastorates as 
we may or surrender them if need be, and will 
travel over this State and organize the moral 
forces therein to sweep you men out of power 
and even out of the Eepublican party." (There 
were not more than 40,000 voters in the State.) 
** You have already seen what we can do in the 
way of arraying voters, especially the women, 
on this clear moral issue; you have means, 
therefore, of judging the value of what we 
say.'' Those men took a little time to con- 
sider, and then they reported that in all prob- 

[30] 



A Year in tJie Pastorate 

ability the bill would pass the next morning. 
It did, though many telegrams were exchanged 
that night with home voters and local politi- 
cians explaining the ^* necessity'' that had 
arisen. It is reported that the most important 
of these exchanges was the obtaining of the 
final consent of a national Senator — one knows 
not if that report be true. But the battle was 
not yet won. For four years, by technicalities 
of various degrees of infamy and by the fact 
that the four ministers had gone from Chey- 
enne, the ultimate carrying out of the victory 
was delayed. But finally a new young city 
attorney came, and he saw the situation. He 
had the temerity to ask why that law had 
never been enforced and went forth and had it 
enforced. The chief gambler of the city moved 
out of town. This man was one of the ** leading 
citizens'' to receive a President of the United 
States when on a tour, and had dictated the 
politics of that great state for a dozen years. 

Meantime in 1902 there came to Dr. Gates 
an urgent appeal to go to Talladega, one of 
our largest American Missionary Association 
schools, but the age of his two boys made it 
unwise to take them South into an entirely 
colored school. Fisk University, at Nashville, 
also made its plea at this time. He and his 
wife visited Washburn College at Topeka, Kan- 
sas, at the invitation of the Trustees, but the 
climate proved, even in the few days of this 
visit, to be similar in its effect to that at Grin- 

[31] 



George Augustus Gates 

nell, so that it was not possible to undertake 
the work there. 

Then followed the call to Pomona College, 
Claremont, California — a young Congrega- 
tional college which was just coming into 
existence when Dr. Gates first took up the 
Presidency of Iowa College in 1887. The col- 
lege was heavily burdened with debt and in 
great need of an inspiring strong leadership. 
Difficulties were never obstacles to George A. 
Gates, only an added spur. The climate prom- 
ised to be an ideal one for Mrs. Gates, so that 
he felt it best to accept this call, and on De- 
cember 4, 1901, the family arrived in Clare- 
mont. 



[32] 



CHAPTER IV 

THE YEARS AT POMONA COLLEGE 

At Pomona, as at Grinnell fourteen years 
before, Mr. Gates at once started a campaign 
for the removal of the college debt. The sal- 
aries paid were probably all that seemed pos- 
sible under the existing conditions but were 
wholly inadequate and their payment intermit- 
tent. He made a change in this latter respect 
at once, stipulating that on the first day of 
each month salaries were to be paid first, as 
no man could be respected or could respect 
himself if constantly unable to meet his living 
expenses. As rapidly as possible the salaries 
of the teaching force were increased by his 
special labor, although his own never changed — 
his attitude was never one of self-seeking but 
always thoughtful for others. At Pomona, his 
relation to the college, church and town was 
most intimate. All projects for civic better- 
ment or material growth met not only his help- 
ful word but, as far as possible, his cordial 
financial support. A bank, an improved ceme- 
tery, water- works and an Inn for college and 
town, still bear witness to his interest. Not 
only local affairs but all vital questions con- 
cerning Southern California were within his 

[33] 



George Augustus Gates 

range of interest. The good roads movement, 
the struggle for freedom from the domination 
of the Southern Pacific Eailroad, and all large 
educational questions found in him an earnest 
advocate and leader. 

The college, including the preparatory school, 
grew from 245 students to 500, the college de- 
partment alone from 100 to 345, and the grad- 
uating classes from 11 to 48. The building of 
the Carnegie library, the big dormitory for 
men, the observatory, together with the pur- 
chase through the generosity of one of the 
trustees of sixty acres of wonderful wooded 
land for a park, this called after the giver 
^^Blanchard Park'' — all these, with the draw- 
ing up and acceptance of a new plan for build- 
ings of **the greater Pomona" that is to be, 
are no mean showing of the kind of work he 
was busy about. The enrollment had been 
doubled as had the endowment, and the assets 
had increased from $238,000 to $750,000. Fig- 
ures tell somewhat and they are stated here, 
but the best successes are not in the outward, 
but in that inward spirit which triumphs over 
disaster and difficulties. Better yet, high schol- 
arship, finer ideals of athletics, conduct and 
relations, a social vision and service in emula- 
tion of the best in character and a ** Pomona 
Spirit," intangible but real, and like that of 
Grinnell, made for the unity and strength 
of Pomona. Best of all, a strong virile per- 
sonality had given the student body some- 

[34] 



The Years at Pomona College 

thing of itself which time has no power to 
efface. 

It was while at Pomona, in October, 1906, 
that Dr. Gates was invited to give the annual 
sermon at the Centennial Anniversary of the 
Haystack meeting of the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. It was 
a great honor, for the distinction is considered 
*Hhe highest the Congregationalists of the 
country have in their power to bestow,'' or, 
as someone has said, the *^blue ribbon of Con- 
gregationalism." That he was worthy to be 
so chosen an abundance of letters prove, as 
well as touching personal words spoken to him 
after the sermon. On a card sent up to him 
at this time a leading and brilliant preacher 
of this country wrote these words in pencil, 
** Praise God. You did honor to His name." 
In a letter I find written by him soon after 
this occasion, and referring to it, he reverently 
and humbly concludes, **So let it rest. The 
Lord can use it and will. ' ' 

In the midst of all these activities — ** labors 
of joy" as well as ** works of commission and 
omission" — the time drew near for his depar- 
ture from Pomona College. Dr. Gates was pre- 
eminently a teacher and an inspirational force 
— a Mark Hopkins type of man. In this giving 
of himself — this power of personality which he 
had to so unusual a degree — ^he found his great- 
est reward. He felt that in the modern demand 
made upon a college President there was too 

[35] 



George Augustus Gates 

much of the executive, the business manager, 
as over against the leadership of scholarship 
and personality. To be responsible for internal 
conditions, student relations, discipline, har- 
mony of students and Faculty, cordial and live 
relations with church constituency, high schools, 
preparatory schools, and the public in general ; 
the maintenance of growth and high standards 
of scholarship and athletics, plus this constant 
raising of money, he thought to be a wearing 
and wearying combination, and almost a ** Pres- 
ident killing^' combination. After twenty-one 
years, without a single sabbatical year, he 
began to find his spirits flagging and an ina- 
bility to sleep nights and to grip affairs as he 
had always done. Although he had never failed 
in raising college debts and fresh endowment 
he often declared that he ** couldn't raise 
money." Nevertheless he had all these years 
accumulated funds and added building upon 
building. But his heart was not in these things, 
and now that once again he found himself 
deeply involved in a money campaign, which 
was not only for a few months but for an inde- 
terminate time to come, he was compelled to 
ask for release at once while self-recovery was 
possible. This decision came suddenly in De- 
cember, 1908, but the conviction of its need had 
been growing for months. 

The Board of Trustees adopted the follow- 
ing resolutions setting forth their sentiments 
concerning their retiring president: *^The 

[36] 



The Years at Pomona College 

seven years of Dr. Gates' relation with the 
Board, through all the perplexing problems 
that have arisen, have been years of unbroken 
harmony and of mutual respect and regard 
and have continued without flaw until today. 
We desire not only to put this on record, but 
also to express our appreciation of the high 
sense of honor and fidelity that he has brought 
to all his work, of his broad sympathies with 
men and of the simplicity and winsomeness of 
his Christian character. 

*^We recognize also that under his leadership 
the college has made remarkable growth, more 
than doubling its membership and material 
equipment. But most of all would we give 
grateful expression to our sense of the service 
that he has rendered to the college and to the 
broader interests of Christian education, and 
of his personal influence upon the young men 
and women of the institution. The moral ear- 
nestness and high idealism of the student body 
at Pomona is so marked as to impress the most 
casual observer. The atmosphere is not only 
unmistakably Christian, but charged with the 
spirit of social service and unselfish living. 
Many influences have contributed to maintain 
and strengthen this condition through the 
years but chief among these we gratefully rec- 
ognize the personal character of the retiring 
president. 

*^This inspiration of many student lives, 
even more than added buildings and campus, 

[37] 



George Augustus Gates 

will remain as his enduring contribution to the 
life of Pomona College." 

The press of Southern California regretted 
his departure and recognized that his going 
was **of great significance in educational cir- 
cles." Writing of this later to a college pres- 
ident, Dr. Gates says: 

**I can see perfectly plainly that as matters 
were a year and a half ago, it was a virtual 
impossibility for me to do this thing, that is, 
continue the work. There was a whole range 
of conditions, not any one but a considerable 
number, which constituted this impossibility. 
And when I found it absolutely killing me 
physically there was but one thing to do. Of 
course one cannot help feeling always that 
there are two regrets: the first, that one was 
not able to finish up a piece of work fairly 
begun; the second, a regret that in his and 
all human work one must find contentment in 
the effort to do a piece of good work and in 
the memory of some fair beginnings and some 
not insignificant successes, rather than look for 
very much recognition, as the years go on, of 
that work or success. It is just as well that 
our work shall so be buried — provided only it 
be under some foundations that can rise 
thereon. I shall never fail to take satisfaction 
in remembering that those plans for the per- 
manent campaign, the two buildings, the library 
and the dormitory, as well as pledges already 
made for more than half of this $250,000 

[38] 



The Years at Pomona College 

campaign, came into the college, I will not 
say because I was there but while I was 
there/' 

And again, ^^Most of us college folks, par- 
ticularly the Presidents, who are, by the very 
nature of their office, in a position where a 
strong impress of one sort or another must, 
forsooth, be made upon successive generations 
of students, find this anyhow for high reward 
— the most holy and tender testimonies, whose 
genuineness cannot be doubted, from scores 
and hundreds of students to that which we 
have given them in the years when we were 
face to face. High wages that for any man. 
No true man lacks an oppressive consciousness 
of having failed to do in this respect what, with 
profounder consecration, he might have done* 
Nevertheless, there is enough of this sort of 
compensation to thrust into adequate shadow 
any other elements. So that down in a quiet 
place in the bottom of my heart I have tucked 
away the comfortable consciousness that under- 
neath the glory of the permanent success lies 
hidden a little piece of myself, a modest piece 
indeed, but all I had to give. ' ' 

That his students felt his decision most 
keenly there is abundance of evidence. The 
Senior class sent him the following tribute, 
signed by their entire number: '*It is with a 
sense of deepest sorrow, which we cannot ap- 
preciate nor understand now, that we, the Class 
of 1909, receive the news of the resignation of 

[39] 



George Augustus Gates 

our beloved College President, George Augus- 
tus Gates. We are brought face to face with 
a situation we can not analyze. We have only 
begun to realize what our President's honest 
service, devoted example and matchless sincer- 
ity have meant to us. We have only begun to 
feel the beauty of his message and the strength 
of his personality. He has been our inspirer, 
our leader, our true friend. But words are 
inadequate. Our whole feeling is one of love, 
— deep and fervent, our one hope that we may 
show forth in our own lives something of the 
sweetness and light and breadth of his to whom 
we must bid farewell.'' 

In speaking before the college for the last 
time of these attested words of high regard 
and even of affection and of the students' con- 
stant loyalty to him and his to them and the 
institution, I find these words of his : 

* * Our fellowship has been good with our col- 
leagues in student body and faculty on this 
campus, in these buildings, in this chapel. It 
has been rich and mutually enriching. 

*^In relations of humans with each other, 
there is no other higher factor than loyalty. 
Loyalty, if it have worthful content, includes 
truthfulness, frankness, faithfulness — with 
sharp contention of opinion oftentimes and 
rebuke and indignation if need arise — always 
frank kindness, sympathy each with the other's 
point of view, fair tolerance, helpfulness, love 
—all these are in loyalty. Loyalty is not one- 

[40] 



The Years at Pomona College 

sided; it is each to the other, and each to all 
— all to each. 

**0f this matter of loyalty, of my part, my 
loyalty to the students of this college in these 
seven years, my single-eyed desire that the col- 
lege shall do them good and only good, my 
effort to help create an atmosphere and spirit 
here best adapted to American young men and 
women, in this age of American and the world's 
life, it is not fitting that I should speak many 
words, for if words are necessary then words 
would be in vain. 

*^But of the loyalty of you students to me, 
— I cannot trust myself to speak of it. It is 
an abiding and holy memory. Your ways of 
expressing it have been most ingenious and 
generous; your abundant presence in parting 
and greeting; your countless personal words 
of generous appreciation; your gifts so rich 
in their words and the added touch of personal 
signatures. I wish you could know how much 
I value all these. Your loyalty is a great gift. 
All one can do is to say Hhank you' and that 
seems inadequate. 

'*So we go out hence, into an even larger 
life, but always and everywhere at home in our 
Father's house." 

He left soon after (January, 1909) for a six 
months' trip to Australia and New Zealand, a 
trip he had been dreaming about for years. As 
a land of social and economic promise it had 
stood before him as a fascinating and educative 

[41] 



George Augustus Gates 

study. The thirty days of wonderful calm sea- 
journey greatly restored his tired nerves and 
gave him hours of profound sleep ; the blessed 
sleep so long delayed. By the time the ship 
touched land he was as eager as a boy **for 
to see and to hear." He had many letters of 
introduction to Government officials and men 
prominent in education and religious life. He 
made most delightful friendships as well as 
acquired large and valuable stores of informa- 
tion which he anticipated using in the latter 
days to come. Before leaving Pomona he had 
promised, if all went well, to return in time 
to graduate his Senior class, to whom he was 
especially attached. This he was able to do 
about the first of June. His last Commence- 
ment at Pomona in June, 1909, was one of pecu- 
liar joy, tinged with sadness (which is a part 
of all real joy) as well as peculiar freedom 
from responsibility. It was a fitting close to 
eight happy years of fruitful service. * * So we 
go hence into an even larger life." These 
words uttered at the close of his Pomona ad- 
dress seem somewhat prophetic of what was 
to come. The summer he passed quickly and 
delightfully among his old friends in the East, 
feeling wonderfully free of all responsibility, 
and yet a bit uneasy at such unaccustomed 
freedom. He thought of writing a book on 
Australia and New Zealand, a study of their 
social and economic history, as a result of his 
six months' travel and investigation, and all 

[42] 



The Years at Pomona College 

sorts of delightful prospects sprung up in liis 
mind's eye. God had for him, however, yet 
another piece of constructive work to do, before 
he could be released from active productive 
work. When the men of our American Mis- 
sionary Association found him free, the old 
urgency, which had followed him all the years, 
began to make itself felt. The ever increasing 
difficulty of finding a leader, ripe, scholarly, cul- 
tured, to man a Southern school for the col- 
ored race made them realize their opportu- 
nity. So Dr. Ward of ^^The Independent" and 
others began their persuasions. In this case 
the wall of defense was weak, for down in the 
depths of George A. Gates' heart there was, 
and had always been, all the latent fire of the 
missionary. He had offered himself to the 
Foreign Board in his first ministry, but Dr. 
Alden had feared ^^his gospel might lack in 
theological soundness," and again, later, he 
was almost persuaded to join Joseph Neesima 
when he returned to Japan; only family ties 
at that time prevented. Now, his heart yearned 
to respond to the tremendous need set before 
him by the death at Fisk University of Pres- 
ident Cravath, that noble heroic soul, who spent 
himself for the onward and upward journey 
of the colored race. No one can measure what 
President Cravath wrought out in those early 
years of the poverty, tremendous prejudice and 
the inertia of a race ** despised and rejected 
of men" struggling blindly toward the light. 

[43] 



George Augustus Gates 

Dr. Gates studied the situation carefully, pray- 
erfully, and talked long with the Trustees of 
the institution. He made it clear to them, that 
if he accepted, he was to carry no financial 
burden. Of course he would give his whole 
soul to the work, especially along constructive 
lines, for Fisk had been without a head for two 
years, and was losing faith in herself. She 
needed complete rejuvenation in class-room 
and in fact everywhere. Dr. Gates knew him- 
self well enough to have no fear as to ultimate 
success here. He had laid too many founda- 
tions and raised too many solid walls thereon 
to fear any failure at this point. So the Trus- 
tees pledged their cooperation and their will- 
ingness to assume entire responsibility for the 
financial side. Most splendidly did they keep 
their promise to the end. So to Fisk Univer- 
sity at Nashville, Tennessee, early in Septem- 
ber, 1909, Dr. Gates was minded to go. 



[44] 



CHAPTER V 
PRESIDENT OF FISK UNIVERSITY 

Dr. Gates condenses the story of his going 
to Fisk University in a few words written at 
the time to a friend: 

^*It was a very great pleasure to me indeed 
to receive your letter. It heartened me very 
much to read the expressions of your judgment 
and feeling concerning this work. Beyond any 
doubt, to many it seems like stepping down into 
more modest work than I have done, and from 
some points of view that is doubtless true. As 
a matter of fact, when I left Grinnell ten years 
ago the A. M. A. wanted me to come to Fisk, 
whose President, Dr. Cravath (uncle, I think, 
of our Mr. Cravath of Grinnell), had just died. 
I would not even look at it, so sure did I feel 
that Mrs. Gates would be no more able to live 
in Nashville than Grinnell. I did look at Talla- 
dega, which was also vacant at that time, but 
I feared that. 

**It seems to me quite strange and romantic 
that after all we should have come here. When 
I came East with my mother, bringing her back 
to her Vermont home after nearly two years 
with us in California, I expected to return to 
California within a few weeks, but the Trustees 

[45] 



George Augustus Gates 

of Fisk and the A. M. A. people hit my trail 
ventre a la terre, and after long discussions 
and a visit to Nashville, it did seem possible 
to try it. The financial matters were put in 
such a way that, while of course they are ever 
to the front in this sort of work, nevertheless 
they were not pressing in the sort of way which 
was killing me at Pomona, and all weight of 
responsibility was to be carried by the Trus- 
tees. I should like to write you much of this 
work. I confess that it is most fascinatingly 
interesting to find one's self really working 
away next to the heart of this mighty problem. 
Every added item in knowledge of it adds to 
the appreciation of its size." 

You will note here this sentence: '^Beyond 
any doubt to many it seems like stepping into 
more modest work than I have ever done. . . . ' ' 
This view was shared by some of his friends, 
one minister writing ** There may be in it an 
element of 4mmbling himself,' '' while yet the 
writer had to acknowledge that it was singu- 
larly fit that it should be the crowning work 
of his long day of educational service. It was 
in his mind the mingling of the Cross and the 
Crown which after all has never gone out of 
fashion since the Great Coronation. This same 
friend continues: *'A11 his life Dr. Gates has 
been the champion of those * spoken against and 
without a helper.' And now again he associ- 
ates himself with a cause that, while dignified 
and worthy, still calls for the offering in its 

[46] 



President of Fish University 

behalf of some of the noblest names of the 
North. It is a great field and will call out all 
that is best in him. It is not often that a man 
in mature life has a chance again to hear the 
missionary call and to take up the missionary 's 
life, but it seems to be his honorable privilege. ' ' 

Another friend, a lawyer, wrote: ^'I con- 
gratulate you upon your high calling though 
it may be a martyrdom ! It will certainly make 
for the welfare of humanity and the best inter- 
ests of our common country." 

To all these friends his replies were prac- 
tically like this one : ** You speak of my present 
work as a possible ^martyrdom.' Oh, no! I 
have always wanted to get into some such work 
as this. I feel that the Lord is very good to 
me to give me such an opportunity and to put 
such a crown upon my last years of work. In 
many respects it is the most inspiring work 
to which I have ever set my hand. If I can 
only keep * humble' enough to do it well and 
strong enough to carry the load, this reward 
is enough.'' 

And yet again, to others, Dr. Gates said: *^I 
thank God daily for giving me this great op- 
portunity. One certainly can feel that every 
ounce of lift he can pull out of himself tells 
at its full weight. I never was in a place where 
that factor stood out so prominently. And is 
there any joy like that one can have in con- 
nection with this work? Many a serious word 
has come to me from men who stand high in 

[47] 



George Augustus Gates 

the councils of our people, when they have 
learned of my purpose to come here; their 
faces would grow sober, and a look of great 
seriousness would be in their eyes and tones 
of seriousness in their voices as they have 
spoken with me of this work. One of the lead- 
ing men of the nation, a preacher, said to me 
earnestly: *That place down there — Fisk Uni- 
versity — is on the firing line, if there is 
one on this planet.' It must be a weak and 
cheap man that can take however modest a 
position *on the firing line' in an irreverent 
spirit. ' ' 

To Dr. Gates Fisk University represented 
the greatest problem ever any nation had to 
attack or would have dared even if it had the 
chance. He found there, too, **a great founda- 
tion, materially and spiritually, and a mighty 
work to be done. ' ' In the doing of it he found 
*Hhe most rewarding work'' to which he had 
ever set his hand. 

It may seem easy from long range to try to 
aid in the solving of the ^' Negro Problem." 
Dr. Gates found that the longer he considered 
it, the more he knew of it by living with it, 
the more difficult and herculean became the 
task. It was like the Golden Rule, easy to talk 
about and easy to repeat, but it was as pro- 
found as is that and closely akin to it. The 
Spirit of Christ, merciful, patient, all-loving, 
the righteousness of God and His justice, and 
the grace of God are wrapt up in it, and these 

[48] 



President of Fish Umversity 

forces alone can solve the problem aright. The 
higher education of the Negro has not met with 
that cordial and instant response which comes 
to the industrial demands. Most of us believe 
in the Negro learning to work with his hands, 
but to believe him equal to thinking rightly and 
able to build into himself a character seems 
extreme and dangerous. A dozen books from 
this yearns press which take up the Negro life 
and character testify to a great and vital 
ignorance of his real mental progress and abil- 
ity. Industrial education there must be, but 
also an educated teaching force. If there must 
be, according to law, separate schools for Ne- 
groes, wherein the supply of white teachers is 
necessarily inadequate and in some states pro- 
hibited, then there must also be men and women 
not only of good education, but of equally good 
character to lead and teach their own people. 
Where are they to come from if it is not from 
the few strong Christian colleges for colored 
people? 

That the greatness of the work to the indi- 
vidual, to the race and to the white man and 
this nation is recognized, the following excerpts 
from letters may help to show. The first is 
from Theodore Eoosevelt : 

*^I cordially agree with Booker Washington 
in his support of Fisk because it is eminently 
undesirable that the Negro should have only a 
chance to get the technical education in indus- 
try and agriculture. With the Negro as with 

[49] 



George Augiistus Gates 

the white while such training is that of which 
there is fundamentally the greatest need for 
the greatest number, it is yet imperative for 
the sake of the race that there shall be oppor- 
tunity of furnishing a different type of train- 
ing for a certain proportion of the race. Fisk 
has behind it a long record of proved efficiency, 
and its present work is of high merit, not only 
from the standpoint of the colored man, but 
from the standpoint of the good citizen gen- 
erally. I very earnestly hope that the burden 
resting upon Fisk may be quickly lifted. It 
would be a calamity not only to the cause of 
education but to the cause of good citizenship, 
to have Fisk crippled in its work.'' 

The second is quoted in a letter from Sidney 
Lanier, Jr., and is taken from his father's book 
^^The Balm of the West." The son of this 
Southern white poet was in fine sympathy with 
the work of Fisk : 

*^Our hardest oppositions, our greatest trials, 
our very evils become — ^what they always essen- 
tially are — our greatest blessings the moment 
we allow them true and free action in us. So 
with this darkest of our nation's questions 
today, this seeming shadow upon the face of 
the earth, the Negro question. Not only his 
childlike simplicity, his free and joyous nature 
acting as a balance of spontaneity to our over- 
rationalized minds, but his wealth of emotion, 
will change the waters of Marah into the wells 
of Elim. In reality the Negro is the Servant 

[50] 



President of Fish University 

in the House, the Servant in the House of our 
America." 

Governor Hooper of Tennessee, a Trustee, 
writes: **I have had an opportunity to observe 
the work of Fisk University at close range. 
There can be no question but that this school 
is doing a great and permanent work for the 
colored race of the whole nation, and especially 
the South. It holds high rank as an educa- 
tional institution, and commands the respect of 
both races.'' 

Chancellor Kirkland of Vanderbilt Univer- 
sity, probably the largest and strongest of 
universities for white men in the Southland, 
expressed his appreciation as he did his friend- 
ship in no uncertain terms : 

**I desire to express to you my appreciation 
of the splendid work you have undertaken in 
the upbuilding of Fisk University. This insti- 
tution has had a long and honorable career, 
and has done a noble work in the higher educa- 
tion of Negroes in the South. The results of its 
labors are quite apparent to one who has lived 
in the South for the past twenty-five years. 
Leaders of the Negro race in the pulpit and in 
the schoolroom have been trained very largely 
by Fisk University. I know of no other insti- 
tution of like character that has held so con- 
stantly to high standards and ideals. The work 
that has been accomplished gives the best claim 
for future enlargement. This calls for larger 
resources and wider support. In the great task 

[51] 



George Augustus Gates 

you have set before yourself you should have 
the sympathy, the encouragement, and finan- 
cial support not only of a small section, but 
of philanthropic friends throughout our whole 
nation. I trust that you may not lack for any 
of these things." 

Dr. Gates tells the following story which 
proves that the Athenians were wise in their 
desire to see all things and to hear new and even 
strange doctrines : * ' For some time past it has 
been the custom of Fisk University to offer to 
the biennial session of the Tennessee Legisla- 
ture a complimentary concert at Fisk Memorial 
Chapel. The legislators and their friends 
showed themselves appreciative of this invita- 
tion by attending very generally. Governor 
Hooper and Mrs. Hooper and family attended 
the concert last April. I could not fail to notice 
that both were very much interested. At the 
close of the concert Mrs. Hooper said to me, 
with a deal of impressiveness : *I am a South- 
ern woman, with a Southern woman's opinion 
and possibly prejudices about Negroes, but I 
want to say to you, that what I have seen and 
heard this evening has changed my whole 
attitude toward the race for all my life. ' Some 
days later Governor Hooper was present at the 
graduating exercises connected with the Negro 
High School of Nashville. This is a popular 
event on the Negro calendar, and brings to- 
gether some thousands of Negroes in Ryman 
Auditorium. Governor Hooper accepted an in- 

[52] 



President of Fish University 

vitation to be present and make an address. I 
was not there but it was reported to me that he 
said something like this : ' Mrs. Hooper and I 
attended the complimentary concert given by 
Fisk University students to the Legislature 
and State officials. We were both greatly im- 
pressed by the evidences of solid attainments 
in real culture and in the different departments 
of music study which were put before us. On 
the way home Mrs. Hooper said to me, *^Ben, 
the colored people of this country have never 
had the chance which they deserve. I hope you, 
during your governorship, will do all you can 
for them.'' ' It is our universal experience 
at Fisk University that when people from 
either North or South, but particularly South- 
ern people, once see and hear and know what 
we are doing, their resulting opinions and sen- 
timents are like those quoted from Governor 
and Mrs. Hooper.'' 

That the colored people appreciated Dr. 
Gates' presence among them and work for 
them, let this one letter suffice : 

^ ^ I am deeply indebted to you for your efforts 
in behalf of my people and their best educa- 
tional institution; as a Fiskite, my gratitude 
is more heartfelt than it is utterable. Criti- 
cism, malice, bitterness and all that is unpleas- 
ant may beset your path, but you will always 
find that the real bulwark of Fisk— the Alumni 
— are with you. As one of your Faculty ex- 
pressed it, *We will all agree that President 

[53] 



George Augustus Gates 

Gates has contributed to the glory of Fisk.' " 
Education does not always spell character 
among the whites and blacks, but Fisk and 
Talladega and other institutions of like rank 
do stand primarily for just that. In the two 
years which followed President Gates' inaugu- 
ral, Fisk standards were raised, discipline 
strengthened, a spirit created, an enthusiasm 
engendered, and many young men and women 
went forth to preach into reality the gospel 
of high thinking and high living which they 
had so freely absorbed. 



[54] 



CHAPTER VI 

THE LAST CHAPTER 

It was a beautiful morning in February, 
1912, when President Gates left Nashville for 
New York to begin there with the Trustees and 
their Advisory Committee and an able finan- 
cial agent and treasurer the campaign for an 
Endowment Fund for Fisk University. The 
following day, near Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 
on the ** Limited ^^ came the accident which 
ultimately closed his earthly career. Many 
were injured, a few killed, and others died 
later. Dr. Gates seemed at first to be one of 
the least injured and gave aid generously to 
others, but he was the last to leave the hospital 
where all were cared for so efficiently. All 
thought of going on with the campaign had to 
be given up, and he who had gone toward New 
York with such an undaunted morning face, 
returned home with energy of body and mind 
weakened. He tried slowly to resume his work, 
but the first attempt ended in complete mental 
and physical collapse. A leave of absence fol- 
lowed and all the spring in the mountains 
of North Carolina mental vigor and physical 
strength were sought for but not found. As 
the Commencement time drew near (which 

[55] 



George Augustus Gates 

would be the completing of his twenty-five 
years of academic work) he pleaded so hard 
to be allowed to return to Fisk to give out the 
diplomas to the graduating class that it was 
deemed wise to yield. He was relieved of all 
responsibility, and every plan for his comfort 
was made, and three days before Commence- 
ment he arrived. It was a heartening time. 
The tender sympathy which had followed him 
all winter through letters, now flowed directly 
to him, and he had that rare satisfaction of 
receiving while yet here words of appreciation 
and love. The future was veiled, but unknown 
to all it was the emptying of the alabaster box 
— the anointing unto burial. At Commence- 
ment, the dignity of a great apprehension sat 
upon him like a crown and many felt it was 
the last time *'our President'^ would be among 
them. 

Yet the summer following, in the bracing 
Vermont hills of his childhood, he seemed for 
a time to win a certain measure of mental 
vigor. It was but a seeming, for suddenly 
came attacks of mental disturbance so serious 
as to necessitate his immediate resignation 
from Fisk, which resignation was written by 
his wife without his permission or knowledge. 
Not until the die was cast was he told, in order 
that the relief of it might lessen the constant 
pressure on the brain of his incessant thought 
of and for Fisk. The instant and continuing 
relief justified the action while it could not 

[56] 



The Last Chapter 

retard the results from concussion of the brain, 
which his physician found had unmistakably 
begun its deadly work. Now came another trip 
South, with a consultation with expert brain 
specialists on the way, the hopeful verdict of 
which cheered him greatly and gave him a 
month of wonderful seeming relief, so that his 
best friends did not and could not understand 
or realize how critical his real condition was. 
After only ten days in the far South came 
another brain storm with utter collapse phys- 
ically, in which, after four days with but a 
few hours of clear mind (when there came 
a wondrous vision of *Hhings unseen"), this 
man, so undaunted in spirit, but held in the 
grip of an unsound mind, departed this life. 
The terrible shock to those nearest and dear- 
est was felt in some measure among all who 
had held him as friend, counsellor and leader. 
One friend wrote at this time concerning the 
sudden going: **He was so essentially a man 
of the day, a man of energy and action, that 
a long twilight would have seemed inappro- 
priate. I, at least, hadn't been able to get my 
mind around to it; so even in this shock and 
distress, I dare to say that it seemed almost 
fitting to have him go without too long delay. ' ' 
Wondrous kindness at this time of great sor- 
row flowed like a river to that lonely wife and 
her aged mother so far from home and dear 
ones. 
The body was brought to Grinnell, Iowa, 

[57] 



George Augustus Gates 

where seventeen years before, the beloved 
daughter was laid to rest. It was a home- 
coming, for it was to his own people whom he 
had loved and served many a year. 

Pomona College sent as its representative 
Dr. Gates' especially loved friend. Professor 
Brackett, while up from Nashville came as 
Fisk's representatives Mr. and Mrs. Work 
(Professor Work as a member of the Faculty) 
and with them the choicest of the Jubilee Sing- 
ers, whose contribution of song was as unique 
as it was comforting in its tenderness and 
power. At the chapel of Iowa College a special 
memorial service was held, intimate, personal, 
as of one family, and later a more formal 
service at the Congregational Church. Some- 
thing of this service Professor Brackett has 
told in his article printed in the ** Pomona Col- 
lege Quarterly Magazine '' for January, 1913. 

**Wlien President Gates went away from 
Claremont after that memorable last Baccalau- 
reate sermon, it was difficult for us to realize 
that he was gone and that we should hear him 
no more. Indeed his words still live. Like 
seeds sown in many a soul, they have grown 
up to bear fruit in noble, courageous life. And 
so when word came that he was dead, it was 
difficult to realize that he was gone, that we 
should never again look into his kindly face, 
or feel the pressure of his hand. Yet he is not 
dead. His spirit in Pomona can never die. 
This thought, so strong in all our minds, was 

[58] 



The Last Chapter 

the central thought of the memorial services 
at Grinnell. 

President Main said, **He made a priceless 
contribution to Grinnell. He gave it a soul like 
his own. It is profoundly true that he lives 
in this institution now, today. This college is 
carrying his spirit on and on to generations 
that know him not.*' Eef erring to a meeting 
of the Grinnell faculty on the last day of Pres- 
ident Gates' official life there, President Main 
said : ' ^ The only action was the presentation to 
him of a loving cup by the members of the 
faculty. This gift to him was a token of love 
and confidence and devotion. There was some 
juice of the grape in the cup and we passed 
it around, each taking a sup as a pledge of good 
fellowship and good will. President Gates was 
entirely taken by surprise and was hardly able 
to respond to the sentiments expressed, but 
this is the word he said which I remember: 
*This is not a faculty meeting. It is a sac- 
rament.' That last meeting was one of the 
unforgettable things in the life of each one who 
was there. It could not have happened in just 
this way with anyone else. It could not have 
happened in a company that was not brought 
together by ties of strong good will. The spirit 
expressed was typical of the spirit of the man. 

**It was fitting that the body of President 
Gates should be brought to Grinnell and laid 
to rest beside that of his daughter. It was 
right that the memorial and funeral services 

[59] 



George Augiistus Gates 

should be held there amid the scenes of his most 
strenuous labors and his longest service. And 
it was appropriate that Fisk University and 
Pomona College should both be represented in 
these services by members of their faculties. 
It was natural that we should all think and 
speak of him as our leader and captain and the 
verses of Whitman's poem, *0 Captain, My 
Captain,' were appropriately read. 

"0 Captain, my Captain ! our f ea^rf ul trip is done, 

The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is 

won. 
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting. 
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and 
daring ; 

But heart! heart! heart! 

the bleeding drops of red. 
Where on the deck my Captain lies. 
Fallen cold and dead." 

* ^ Notwithstanding the profound sadness and 
sorrow which pervaded the college chapel and 
the old stone church where the services were 
held, the dominant note throughout was one of 
great achievement and triumph. ' ' 

Some further sentences from the message 
from Pomona may be quoted: 

**He came to Pomona at a time when there 
was need of a leader of integrity, of absolute 
candor and courage. In all these his greatness 
is well known. We can not here review the 
fine work of those years at Pomona, nor can 
we explain that rare spirit of manliness which 

[60] 



The Last Chapter 

emanating from him pervaded the whole stu- 
dent body. It was chiefly through his Friday 
morning chapel talks and his personal touch 
with the young men and women that he set his 
high and permanent mark upon the college. 
How many times, to young men groping in the 
dark, he has shown the truth as by a flash of 
pure light, revealing men to themselves and 
pointing the way to what he called the good 
success. One secret of his power was his faith 
in his fellows. How completely he trusted us 
all — students, teachers and friends — not with a 
simple, childlike trust, but with a great, philo- 
sophical, Christ-like confidence, which might 
perhaps rarely be betrayed, but that drew out 
a man's best by its very utterness. The leader 
is gone. Yet I know that we shall continue 
consciously and unconsciously to measure life 
and conduct in many respects by his standards 
and there are many whose lives will always be 
stronger, truer, because of his inspirations and 
the vows made before him. 

**To both Grinnell and Pomona President 
Gates gave a national position. This Fisk 
already possessed. *In shaping so largely the 
character of these representative colleges and 
in the natural contact of his position with other 
institutions throughout the country his influ- 
ence was nation-wide in extent. We can under- 
stand somewhat, now that we see the great 
work as a whole, better than we did at the 
time, that Providence which took him from 

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George Augidstus Gates 

Grinnell a dozen years ago and then gave him 
to us, and which three years ago took him from 
us and gave him to Fisk. 

^ ^ I have been reading again in * The Student 
Life' the words spoken in chapel on the spur 
of the moment out of a full heart, after Pres- 
ident Gates had announced his resignation, 
when I said: ^I am convinced that as the 
months and years go by we shall realize more 
and more that we are now losing a great edu- 
cator, a man whose nobility of character and 
Christian leadership is not excelled in any col- 
lege in the land. ' The verity of these words is 
clearer now than when they were spoken. 

* ^ During the seven years of President Gates ' 
administration at Pomona College the number 
of students increased from 245 to 500, the num- 
ber of college students from 100 to 345, and 
the graduating class from 11 to 48 ; the library, 
Smiley Hall and the observatory were built and 
sixty acres were added to the campus, while 
the endowment funds were more than doubled. 
But this material growth, exceptional as it was, 
is far less important than the advance in 
esprit de corps and character. Grinnell is full 
of the ^Grinnell spirit,' and Pomona is proud 
of the * Pomona spirit,' and in them both is the 
spirit of George A. Gates himself — ^his sincer- 
ity, his zeal for truth and hatred of sham, that 
spirit which was thus characterized in the * Ap- 
preciation' written for ^The Student Life' four 
years ago: 

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The Last Chapter 

'* *His greatness as an educator consists in 
the greatness of his ideals, and these ideals, 
like his nobility of character and Christian lead- 
ership, are the result of one underlying, vital 
fact — a profound, unshaken belief in God and 
his fellow-man. He ever sees the best things. 
Like Mrs. Booth, Jane Addams, Jacob Riis and 
other great workers for their fellow-men, he 
believes in men. He inspires them to believe 
in themselves and to determine to make the 
most of themselves. His spirit is the spirit of 
the Master, proclaiming by teaching and ex- 
ample that the best life, the most successful 
life, is the life of largest possible service and 
usefulness. ' 

** President Main interprets this spirit in 
almost identical words: *He injected the spirit 
of service into every brick and foundation 
stone on the campus. He introduced a policy 
of confidence, a policy of belief in men and 
women.' '' 

From the address of Professor John Wes- 
ley Work of Fisk at the funeral the following 
extracts are taken: 

**When this great, big, earnest man came to 
Fisk University, to take up the work there, he 
accepted and undertook the most difficult prob- 
lem that he had undertaken, but before I had 
known him long I found that he wanted some- 
thing difficult to do. . . . He changed the whole 
life of that institution in the short time he was 
there. ... He utterly disregarded everything 

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George Augustus Gates 

of race and color and put everyone upon the 
basis of men and women. . . . There is no per- 
son who has made such a good impression upon 
the city of Nashville as the good man before 
us. ... I stand here to offer the love of the 
people there who knew him and loved him, to 
say that we of the University and of Nashville, 
Tennessee, will always be better because Dr. 
Gates decided to cast his lot among us. ' * 

The conviction felt by President Gates that 
God had called him to the work at Fisk was 
voiced in the duet, of which he was especially 
fond, sung at this time by Professor and Mrs. 
Work, both Negroes, ^*I know the Lord hath 
laid His Hands on Me.'* 

No one can measure the intimacy and the 
power of his relations with individual students 
and teachers; they are too sacred to be ex- 
posed. But these words from Dr. Gates' letter 
to the students published in *^The Student 
Life*' of Pomona College give some hint of, 
and reveal as well, his appreciation of these 
relations : 

*^So many expressions of high regard are 
reaching me from graduates and students that 
it was almost worth while to pay the full price 
— for what my resignation is costing me no 
one is likely to understand. There are many 
pleasant features connected with the work of 
college administration, but no one of them can 
be compared to the deep joy of touching inti- 
mately the lives of the men and women that 

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The Last Chapter 

constitute the student body. In the measure of 
success of our work together in and for this 
college, the high loyalty of the students has full 
share. The fine spirit of the student body is 
Pomona ^s pride. *^ 

He was an inspiring leader, filling others 
with his own courage and vision, open and 
frank in all his methods, fearless in his attack, 
never asking others to go where he would not 
lead. But the fight which he captained was not 
against men, it was against evil, against social 
wrongs, against political corruption. How he 
hated all these things ! 

Yet while he was a great, brave fighter, 
there was no stronger advocate of peace. He 
was recognized as one of the many men lead- 
ing on the world movement for international 
peace, rejoicing in the progress of the move- 
ment at The Hague and delighted by the setting 
up of the cross on the Andes between Chili and 
Peru. 

This was only a manifestation of his great 
love for his fellow-men. He was indeed a lover 
of men. Unreserved in his casual metings with 
people of all sorts, he cheered many a stranger 
with his frank address and wholesome conver- 
sation. His acquaintances all felt the warmth 
of his interest and sympathy. This intense 
love for men was quite regardless of race or 
nationality or circumstances and did not stop 
with those who cared for him. As President 
Main said: **He could forgive seventy times 

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George Augustus Gates 

seven. He simply couldn't hold a grudge. He 
came as near loving his enemies as any man 
I ever knew. He was sensitive to wrong 
and slight, but ready at any time to receive 
back mth open arms anyone who wanted to 
come. ' ' 

One of those who had opposed him in the 
strenuous days of the ** Kingdom '' movement, 
speaking at the funeral told this characteristic 
story: **I shall never forget a scene which 
occurred just here in the stone church. I had 
preached both morning and evening and Presi- 
dent Gates had honored me with his presence. 
At the close of the evening service he alone 
came forward and said, *You have given me a 
good day. ' But that is not the point. Pressing 
my hand more cordially, with tears in his voice, 
a rare thing for him, he said, * Douglass, I wish 
you loved me.' We were opposites in some 
respects, and as he was high in office and at- 
tainments, and I low in office, I did not think 
he cared whether I loved him or not, and as 
I came to know him better I found that he 
craved friendship and friends. ... I learned 
to love him after that occasion as the years 
came and went. I loved him for his virtues; 
I loved him for those things which perchance 
some count his weaknesses; I loved him for 
his abruptness, his openness, his communica- 
tiveness. ... I think the message which comes 
to us at this time from the Scriptures is, *Be 
ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiv- 

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The Last Chapter 

ing one another, even as God for Christ's sake 
hath forgiven you ! ' " 

Personality is a very real thing and yet elu- 
sive to transmute into words. You have caught 
perhaps something of what this man was, but 
he was always greater than his deed. One of 
his successors in office said to him: **You have 
set a standard for myself and for all those who 
will come after you.'' Many, a surprising 
number, have written of the power and virility 
of some word, address, or sermon, or even of 
social contact with him, which has power yet 
to stir their mind and quicken their heart. 
One in hearing his sermon at the National Con- 
gregational Council at St. Louis said to him: 
**I will not say to you that that sermon is the 
best I ever heard ; I do not know or care about 
so irrelevant a matter as that. But I could 
not go away without saying, that I never heard 
a spoken word that lifted me so far along or 
so high up." It was always a ^' piece of him- 
self" that he gave to those who came in contact 
with him. Yet another spoke of meeting him 
and feeling as though he *^had taken twenty 
grains of quinine." When he entered a room 
he brought a certain north wind with him, stim- 
ulating the mind and opening the heart to give 
out its best. The story is told that Washington 
once said to Alexander Hamilton: ^*You have 
a streak of light in you that never goes out. 
When I catch a spark of it I am cheered for 
the rest of the day. When I am close to it for 

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George Augustus Gates 

a time, I can feel the iron lid on my spirits 
lifting as if it were on a bubbling pot. ' ' These 
words might have been spoken of George A. 
Gates. 

He believed mightily in good women and 
publicly espoused their cause early in his life. 
He had always believed in women's suffrage, 
but after nine months in Colorado in 1900, when 
he and his wife went together to the polls, and 
when in Wyoming later he saw the power of 
woman's influence, plus the ballot, to win moral 
victory, his belief took on unshaken conviction. 
To him women turned the leaves of their heart 
and mind in a rare way, and he was father- 
confessor to many a burdened soul. Women 
had with him a sense of being protected, know- 
ing that in his hands all was safe. The death 
of his beloved and only daughter in her blos- 
soming time left a tender spot in his heart 
toward all young women. He saw them as 
through her eyes with exquisite appreciation 
and tenderness, and followed their growth as 
he would have done hers had God spared her 
to him. Note the discerning spirit of the man 
in his tribute to Julia Ward Howe, when he 
led the devotional memorial exercises in Bos- 
ton in 1910 at the National Congregational 
Council : 

**We are gathered not to praise Julia Ward 
Howe, but to commemorate her life and bow 
reverently at the hour of her funeral, as this 
great American passes under the majesty of 

[ 68 ] 



The Last Chapter 

death. To praise such a woman is impertinent. 
To use the occasion of this memorial service 
for the turning of rhetorical phrases about her 
would seem as much out of order as pretty 
compliments about one of the planets of the 
solar system. No small part of her greatness 
is her simplicity. Her sweet womanhood was 
ever at the service of her home, as wife and 
mother; when mind and heart, voice and pen, 
were on call there leaped into prominence a 
human need to be met, a wrong crying to be 
righted, a cause of human advancement want- 
ing a voice. Pausing just long enough to sing 
the victory of achievement her eyes quickly 
turned toward new achievements. So she has 
led, and the inspiration of her memory will 
lead us all.'' 

He believed mightily also in democracy, the 
people — all sorts and kinds. This belief some- 
times led him into unusual and more direct 
methods of approach than many could have 
found or would so have chosen to use if found. 
He reached people's hearts and minds by short 
cuts, not always using the formal methods of 
presentation. Sometimes this brought him 
censure and misjudgment but more often men 
and women, after the first surprise, recognized 
the genuineness and nobility of the man and 
were often drawn toward him by this unique 
and unusual characteristic. His intense sin- 
cerity drove him imperatively from anything 
sinuous, roundabout or underhanded. To think 

[69] 



George Augustus Gates 

or to hold a mean thought was a hideous sin 
to him. He could forgive seven times seven 
and only once in thirty years did I know of 
his finding it almost impossible to think gently 
and forgivingly, and then it was of one who 
he felt had wronged him, and through him the 
best interests of a cause dear to him. The very 
day of his death, when, in a wonderful hour 
of what might be called '^ecstatic vision, '^ his 
release from this heavy burden came, he said, 

'^Now, I can love even ." To a man of 

his strength such a victory can not be esti- 
mated in Avords. God knew and gave of His 
grace in this last moment of earthly life. 

He was a ready writer, and his pen flowed 
unceasingly in many directions. Any really 
extensive creative work in book form, how- 
ever, was stored in his mind for those years to 
come, when the toiling days would be over. 
But, as one said of him, ' * President Gates used 
as tablets ^hearts of flesh.' '^ 

That the gospel which Dr. Gates lived had 
power to send out to the uttermost parts of 
the earth *' living epistles'' is shown by the list 
of some seventeen foreign missionaries, not to 
mention others, who went out on Christian 
service during his college administration. In 
the home field his boys and girls can be found 
in many places leading in social betterment 
and the ministry of service. He believed in his 
college, men and women, and cheered them in 
their work and sustained their faith in days 

[70] 



The Last Chapter 

of uncertainty. He stood to many as a strong 
tower for liberty in the interpretation of the 
Scriptures, for to him the word of the Lord 
was sure — Truth ultimately prevails. He 
taught men to know themselves *4n the light 
of the highest sense of right that a man is 
capable of.'' From one has come this word of 
personal testimony: **One sentence in your 
address changed my life — and by the grace of 
God made me of whatever use I have been. . . . 
I have never touched you except to receive help. 
Virtue has gone out of you. . . . You have 
helped, strengthened, encouraged and inspired 
me more than you dreamed. ' ' 

This tender bit was found enclosed in a letter 
of sympathy from one of the boys in his last 
graduated class at Pomona, and shows per- 
haps more clearly the affection with which he 
was held in many a student 's heart : 

"In Prexy's face 
Are many stories — some of them are glad, 
Told in a smile of youthful joy and mirth ; 
And some of them are tender, having birth 
In tears of sympathy when hearts are sad. 
Power, strength and comfort, all are there, 

And even a dim, soft shadow, sorrow's trace — 
With these the hand of time has set love's seal 
In Prexy's face.'^ 

A trustee wrote of him: **No other man I 
ever knew stood so squarely for * just balances, 
just weights, a just ephah and a just hin.' '' 
A leader in social uplift speaks of him as fol- 

[71] 



George Augustus Gates 

lows : ^ ' Strength and tenderness are a rare com- 
bination in human character, and as beautiful 
as rare. Such a man cost God a great deal, 
and such powers do not complete their service 
in a few earthly years. If they were not im- 
mortal and used in never-ending service their 
loss would be a loss to the universe and would 
be a waste which would be utterly inconsistent 
in an infinitely wise and benevolent Creator. 
His going was a loss to us, but not to the King- 
dom of God, and least of all to him. I doubt 
not he is engaged in service far more worthy 
of his splendid powers and spirit than any he 
was permitted to render in the flesh — great as 
that was." 

Only one more extract must be given, and 
that because of the unusual quality of testi- 
mony: ^*I was passing through the town a 
couple of months ago where Dr. George A. 
Gates joined the immortals — a fascinating, ro- 
mantic, splendid, tragic life. This is my delib- 
erate conviction about Gates. He came as near 
filling my conception of what the term Chris- 
tian means as any man I have ever known. 
Always in the front for his ideals regardless 
of consequences to himself, and his battles wore 
him out. He has fallen outside of the breast- 
works. I knew the type before I ever knew 
him or Dartmouth. I had seen idealists like 
him hold desperate lines and fling themselves 
against entrenchments and open the way so 
that those in the rear might win the battle. 

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The Last Chapter 

And how he helped! He left his impress on 
thousands of men, young and old. No time- 
server he; and to few men of his time, more 
than to him, is due the fact that we have a new 
republic with new ideals, and it is owing to 
men like Gates that it is such a splendid thing 
to be alive today. I am not a member of any 
church, nor a subscriber to any of the creeds, 
but I do believe that we are going to put the 
Golden Rule and the ethics of Jesus Christ 
into public life. And that was the star that 
Gates followed, as the knights of old followed 
the Holy Grail, and it will lead us at last to 
the Ox-stall and the Manger, where, in his swad- 
dling clothes, a new Christ lies — the Christ of 
human brotherhood." 

Dr. Gates could have said with Tennyson, *^I 
should infinitely rather feel myself the most 
miserable wretch on the face of the earth, with 
a God above, than the highest type of man 
standing alone,' ^ 

To him it was 

"Not in the cloister dim, 
Not along the tortuous way — 
But where men are, in the conflict grim 
Of life in the world, 
Not pausing to doubt, but resting to pray." 

He was preeminently **a friend to man and 
lived in a house by the side of the road. ' ' His 
passionate desire was to have a clearer and 
fuller vision of God and *Hhe glory of going 
on and still to be.'' These, his last words, 

[73] 



George Augustus Gates 

found on his desk after his death, express his 
trust in God, in which trust he so amply lived 
unto the end. They were written for the Fel- 
lowship meeting held yearly at Fisk University 
which brought into closer touch by written 
word all those who represented the Past and 
those who were of the Present : 

** Sometimes when listening or speaking at 
the telephone there is a click ; then silence ; you 
are 'cut off.' "Well, that is what happened to 
me. It is very disconcerting, i. e., it snaps one 
out of concert or harmony, in which one has 
been for some forty years taking one 's place in 
the work of the world alongside his fellow-men. 

''That experience is text for my little con- 
tribution to our reunion meeting: viz.. When 
we have a chance, take it and use it. We may 
not get another. There is in my office desk a 
whole drawerful of memoranda of high and fine 
words which I have been saving up for use 
in chapel and elsewhere — and now it is too 
late. 

"I am profoundly grateful for the chance I 
have had in this great school; grateful spe- 
cifically for the many kind words that have 
come to me latterly, expressions of appreciation 
of what I have tried to do in the brief time I 
was permitted to be one of you in presence and 
work. 

' ' So, if anyone here now has a helpful word 
to speak, any service to contribute to the struc- 
ture of institution or spirit going up here on 

[74] 



The Last Chapter 

this hill, let it not be withheld or postponed: 
*Do it now.' 

** Anyhow we are all in God's love and care, 
and are at home with Him in Christ. What- 
ever our experience, no fatal harm can befall 
us who put our trust in God." 

The Trustees of Grinnell College expressed 
themselves in the following resolution: 

^*We the Trustees of Grinnell College desire 
to place upon record our sense of loss in the 
death of a former Chairman of this Board for 
many years, Dr. George A. Gates, President of 
Iowa College from 1887 to 1901, who gave to 
this college the best years of his life, serving 
it with ability and fidelity and distinction, with 
steadfast enthusiasm and splendid devotion 
and loyalty unbounded. With a bracing and 
chivalrous and inspiring personality President 
Gates was indeed a courageous and heroic 
spirit, whose life was a challenge to service; 
who gave to thousands of young men and young 
women their best ideals and profoundest con- 
victions — to the permanent enrichment of their 
lives ; who gave to all with whom he came into 
contact an inspiring example of a brave, loyal, 
truth-loving soldier of the common good. 
'Man's unhappiness,' said Thomas Carlyle, 
* arises from his greatness,' and so President 
Gates was one who could not sit at ease within 
Zion, but who yearned to realize the Kingdom 
of God upon earth, here and now. We rejoice 
that his successor could say over his grave that 

[75] 



George Augustus Gates 

President Gates brought a new vision to the 
College, and that he had inscribed the word 
Service upon every brick on the campus. We 
rejoice that his work and his memory, here and 
elsewhere, abide, and that we his long-time 
friends and comrades dare to apply to him, 
as most fitting, these lines characterizing an 
undaunted soul: 

^One who never turned his back but marched breast 
forward, 

Never doubted clouds would break, 
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would 

triumph, 
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
Sleep to wake/ " 

Mazzini describes a great man as one who is 
* * endowed by God with a faculty of feeling more 
largely and intensely, and, as it were, of ab- 
sorbing more than his fellows of that univer- 
sal life which pervades and inter-penetrates all 
things, and who breathes it out again at every 
pore/' In this sense George A. Gates was a 
great man — ^^He was not faultless, but in all 
things essential he was great.'' 

An endowed President's chair is his monu- 
ment at Fisk University. At Grinnell College 
^^The George A. Gates Memorial Lectureship" 
is established and is bringing its yearly enrich- 
ment to college and town. Pomona College 
speaks of the eminent fitness of such a monu- 
ment to his memory by quoting '*The Grinnell 

[76] 



The Last Chapter 

Beview": ^^Dr. Gates believed thoroughly that 
the college student should have the privilege 
of hearing the men and women who are doing 
the world ^s work. Through his wide acquaint- 
ance he was able to attract to Grinnell, as after- 
wards to Pomona, many of those most distin- 
guished and most inspiring to young people. 
In no more appropriate way could Dr. Gates' 
memory be honored than in the perpetuation 
of this peculiarly fine service of his. President 
Gates gave the best years of his life to Grinnell. 
He gave the College a new impetus and put 
it into vital and harmonious relation with the 
new movement of society, education, and col- 
lege administration. He greatly endeared him- 
self to a multitude of young people. They look 
back to him as a creative influence in their lives. 
His name should be perpetually associated with 
Grinnell College. The fund raised, twenty thou- 
sand dollars, will enable the College to empha- 
size in his name the principles of social democ- 
racy and righteousness which were so dear to 
him and which are so vital in the development 
of the race. ' ' 

One of GrinnelPs eminent professors adds 
his unique word, ** Living endowment is the 
thing for our Gates. You cannot express such 
a man in marble or brass.'' 

At Pomona College, California, a memorial 
set of chimes will ring out, temporarily from 
the College church tower, but later from the 
new chapel that is to be, somewhat of that 

[77] 



George Augustus Gates 

triumpliant faith and joy which made Dr. 
Gates a living spirit. 

These memorials characterize the man. So 
though his body has gone back to earth, his 
soul is ever marching on. Death can not dim 
his memory nor will the influence of his noble 
life be abated. To him Death must have been 
but a ** change of key in Life — the Golden 
Melody.'' 



[78] 



